UNESCO Director-General voices profound sorrow at the death of Boris Trajkovski

26-02-2004 2:00 pm Paris, February 26 – UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura expressed his “profound sorrow” at the death of President Boris Trajkovski, President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in an air crash this morning. “I was deeply shocked to learn of the tragic death of President Boris Trajkovski,” declared Mr Matsuura. “A leading personality of the international community and an indefatigable promoter of cooperation between the States of southeastern Europe, he was a great friend of UNESCO whose values and ideals he championed,” the Director-General said.

Committed alongside UNESCO in favour of dialogue among civilizations, Boris Trajkovski was at the origin of the South-East European Regional Forum on the “Dialogue among Civilizations” in Ohrid (former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), which he co-chaired alongside the Director-General in August 2003. Eight Heads of State, including the six presidents of the former republics of Yugoslavia, attended the Forum. The participants adopted the Message from Ohrid n in which they pledged to work for “a culture of dialogue, tolerance and peace, in order to advance the prosperity, well-being and mutual cooperation among the people and countries of the South-East Europe region.” Mr Trajkovski described the adoption of the Message as “a decisive moment for the future of the region.”

Mr Trajkovski also took part in the High-Level Symposium on Building Knowledge Societies organized by UNESCO in December 2003, in Geneva on the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society.